


Learning on the Job

by miniconsuffrage



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: M/M, Not Enough Megasound, laserbeak is a baby, megatron is dad. he just is.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 18:01:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17411591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miniconsuffrage/pseuds/miniconsuffrage
Summary: Soundwave is needed on an important stealth mission. Which means the duty of caring for Laserbeak, still too young to go on missions herself, falls to Megatron.





	Learning on the Job

**Author's Note:**

> can't believe i'm breaking my beast wars streak..... but it's for a good cause. (if you like bw, look at my other fics maybe!)

Megatron hadn’t agreed to this.

He also hadn’t, strictly speaking, been asked.

The mission required precision. _Silence_. It was one only Soundwave could be best suited for, but silence wasn’t something Laserbeak could be relied on for yet.

It wasn’t her fault—she was young, only recently created, and usually she did a good job. When Soundwave impressed upon her that silence was necessary, she did her best to comply. But sometimes she forgot. Sometimes she spotted something that excited her and couldn’t help chirping. She would grow out of it, but for this particular mission, the risk was too great.

Somewhere in his processor, Megatron knew this, and assumed Soundwave would leave her under the protection of one of his other symbionts. But, when Megatron stopped by Soundwave’s quarters with the intention of saying goodbye before his most reliable officer left, he found Laserbeak detached from Soundwave’s chest and pressed to his.

“What is this?” he asked, looking down at her in confusion as she chirped in greeting. Instinctively, he held her close to keep her from falling, even though he didn’t need to—she had long ago found the crevices in his armor that allowed her to hang on.

“Laserbeak,” Soundwave responded, using a clip of Megatron’s own voice from the first time he’d said her name, soon after she had been created.

Very funny. “You know what I meant,” he said.

Soundwave pressed his hand to Laserbeak against Megatron’s chest insistently. This was no mistake—for reasons beyond Megatron’s comprehension, he wanted Megatron to care for her in his absence. And Megatron would do his best.

He had toppled a government and commanded armies, but he felt out of his depth here.

“I don’t know how to take care of her,” Megatron said. Almost immediately, he found he had a notification for an information packet from Soundwave. Likely, it had every bit of information Megatron could possibly need, and he would be poring over it later.

“Thank you,” he said lamely. “Don’t be long.”

Soundwave’s head tilted to the side just slightly, which always gave Megatron the impression he was laughing at him.

Megatron leaned forward, and Soundwave pressed his helm against Megatron’s. Even discounting Laserbeak, he knew Soundwave would be back as soon as he could, but that didn’t mean he appreciated the separations. Nothing ran as smoothly when Soundwave was gone. And Megatron missed him.

All too soon, Soundwave left. The sooner he left, the sooner he would be back, Megatron tried to rationalize. Laserbeak seemed to make no such attempts, and only chirped sadly and continuously the farther away her creator got.

“He’ll be back soon,” Megatron told her, in an attempt to be comforting, but it didn’t seem to have much of an effect.

Well. All he could do now was read Soundwave’s information packet and wait.

* * *

 Megatron did get some funny looks, walking around with Soundwave’s symbiont clinging to his chest, but those that would say something were silenced with a sharp glare.

For the most part, anyway.

The first few hours after Soundwave’s departure Megatron spent sitting on the bridge, reading and rereading the packet. Laserbeak occasionally beeped sadly, but for the most part, Megatron could almost forget she was there.

After the first few hours, though, she began to grow bored. Clearly Megatron’s actions weren’t interesting enough to keep her interested. She began to shift, then to wiggle, and finally to start to climb. She tried out a few different perches, on Megatron’s shoulder, on his back, hanging off one of his arms. She seemed to enjoy his shoulder the best, but Megatron had to pay attention to his movements to avoid being hit in the face with one of her wings.

She chirped at him proudly once she had settled into her new place.

“Yes, very impressive,” he mumbled to her.

Megatron looked up and found that Starscream was staring. He glared back, daring him to say something.

And being Starscream, he did. “Taking on some new duties, are we?”

“Would you like some as well? The outer hull needs to be scrubbed,” Megatron shot back.

Starscream huffed at that. “Unlike _some_ people, evidently, I’m far too busy trying to win this war to take on unrelated responsibilities,” he responded.

Before Megatron could say anything more, Laserbeak fired off a shot and hit Starscream in the leg. He yelped and very nearly fell to the floor. It couldn’t have been very painful—her weapons systems weren’t fully upgraded yet, mostly so that she didn’t hurt her siblings when they played together before she learned more restraint. But it was very amusing seeing Starscream clutching his leg and glaring at a child.

“Good work,” he praised her, plenty loud enough for Starscream to hear. Starscream got the hint and stalked off, muttering complaints to himself.

* * *

 Time passed, and it wasn’t that caring for Laserbeak was _difficult._ Soundwave’s instructions were easy to follow. Megatron made sure she was well fed, clean and rested. She never protested against the heavily filtered energon he offered her, and she huddled on top of him and didn’t move when he recharged.

His concern was that, the longer Soundwave was gone, the more irritable she became. Megatron sympathized—he was very much ready for Soundwave to return as well. But he was still able to get his work done, for the most part. Laserbeak was becoming less content with clinging to Megatron wherever he went.

Instead she would fly around whatever room he was in, perching wherever she wished to watch the room’s occupants. More often than not, she unnerved unsuspecting Decepticons. Even in Soundwave’s absence, everyone assumed she was watching them on his behalf. Megatron didn’t think that was true, but it kept everyone on their best behavior, even when his back was turned.

When he called Laserbeak back, she came, but she always beeped sadly at him. If she could  frown, Megatron thought she would be. Now it wasn’t just him looking to the spot by the computer console where Soundwave should have been.

“What do you want to do?” he finally asked when they were alone.

She chirped questioningly. “Clearly you aren’t happy,” he said. “I can’t make Soundwave come back more quickly. But if there’s something else I can do to make things easier, I will.”

She was silent for a moment, then whirred sadly. Perhaps she couldn’t think of anything, or didn’t know how to communicate what she thought. It wasn’t surprising that a warship wouldn’t be sufficient to entertain a child, but Megatron had no experience in these matters.

He would have to get creative, it seemed. What was something she could do that would take her mind off her creator’s absence?

Megatron walked over to the window in his quarters, and looked out, wishing for some divine revelation, or perhaps for supplemental instructions from Soundwave to find their way to him.

Laserbeak turned to look out the window as well. It was just the expanse of space, stars in the distance.

An idea struck Megatron. “We could go flying,” he suggested. “Would you like that?”

She perked up and chirped at him, which Megatron took as a good sign. Soundwave went flying with her sometimes, when he wasn’t bogged down with work. He hadn’t forbidden Megatron from doing so as well.

Megatron headed straight for the nearest airlock. They wouldn’t stray far from the ship, and he would still be in communications range, so he didn’t feel the need to alert Starscream that he would be outside. Better for him to think Megatron could step onto the bridge at any moment.

He stepped into the airlock and held Laserbeak tight against his chest while the pressure changed, just to be absolutely sure she wouldn’t get carried off into space. Once they were outside the ship and beyond the artificial gravity, he let her go.

::Don’t go too far,:: he commed her, and gave her a specific radius from the ship. She chirped back excitedly and shot off before he could even transform.

He flew behind her for awhile. She was small, but he wasn’t built for speed. He didn’t think she was going to go beyond the bounds he had set for her, though, so as long as he kept an eye on her, he was sure she would be fine.

Megatron started doing lazy loops, for no other reason than to occupy himself. As soon as he started, Laserbeak doubled back and started to fly with him and around him. For a moment he was afraid he would run into her, but she was already very good at handling herself in space. It seemed Soundwave had taught her well.

They stayed out there longer than Megatron had planned. Sometimes Laserbeak would get tired and attach herself to him, letting him do all the work, then after a time would get excited and shoot off in a different direction. Megatron only brought her back inside when Starscream sent him a comm demanding to know why he was late for his shift.

Laserbeak was disappointed at having to go back inside, but her mood was better. Megatron counted that a success.

* * *

 From that point on, whenever Laserbeak got into a mood, Megatron took her out flying. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it cheered her up a little bit. Megatron just hoped Soundwave would be back before she started to grow tired of that solution.

And it was about time for Soundwave to emerge from enemy territory and send word of his return. He still had some time before he was classified missing, but Megatron was checking communications constantly. He didn’t worry because he doubted Soundwave’s abilities. But any number of things could go wrong, and he would feel much better when Soundwave was back at his side. And the closer the deadline came, the more uneasy he felt.

Then, finally, it happened. The ship received a simple message confirming the success of the mission and stating approximately when he would be back on the ship.

Laserbeak’s external excitement was just about how Megatron felt, but she didn’t need to keep it to herself. She whirred excitedly, chirping and wiggling, and when she could contain herself no longer she leapt from Megatron’s shoulder and flew around the room joyously. Megatron had never seen her this happy before, and she hadn’t even reunited with Soundwave yet. Now all they had to do was wait.

For once, Megatron knew Soundwave was close before the ship’s sensors did. Laserbeak could feel it, it seemed—she had been quiet, and suddenly started to get antsy, and her excitement only grew until she was chirping insistently at him.

“Sir?” one of the vehicons ventured. “Ship’s sensors indicate someone approaching.”

“It’s Soundwave,” he declared.

The vehicon looked surprised. “It… seems to be, yes. It isn’t close enough to tell for sure.”

Megatron didn’t need confirmation from the computers. He stood, and made his way to the hangar

By the time they made it to the airlock, Laserbeak was positively vibrating. It felt like it took a lifetime for Soundwave to finally appear.

She was off like a gunshot. Megatron had never seen her move so quickly—she flung herself at her creator, and he embraced her fully. After a few moments, she re-attached herself to his chest plate like a puzzle piece fitting back into place, and Megatron could finally relax in the knowledge that he had kept her alive until she could return to her creator.

“You’ve been missed,” he said as he approached. He may have felt like flinging himself into Soundwave’s arms as well, but he had a reputation to uphold. Soundwave just nodded in agreement.

Megatron followed him back to his quarters. There was a little bit of a divide, here, between personal and professional. Soundwave would give his official report on the mission to him and Starscream tomorrow. Tonight, Megatron would enjoy having Soundwave back safely. He waited patiently while Soundwave meticulously cleaned himself, after which Soundwave finally joined him in the berth.

It didn’t take much coaxing. Clearly, he was exhausted. Symbionts all safely attached, he lay down, and Megatron held him close.

“How was your mission?” Soundwave asked in Megatron’s own voice.

Megatron chuckled at the phrasing. “You are a much more… efficient caretaker,” Megatron told him. “But I believe it went alright."

Soundwave ran sharpened talons over Megatron’s shoulder armor. “Next time,” he said in Starscream’s voice. The _you will do better_ was implied. Having only just gotten Soundwave back, Megatron didn’t want to think about next time.

But… he found he didn’t object to the idea of being tasked with caring for Laserbeak again. She had been far from a nuisance.

So, next time, perhaps. Or perhaps he would invite her to go flying with him again soon.

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr post for sharing!](https://miniconsuffrage.tumblr.com/post/181989630633/learning-on-the-job-miniconsuffrage)


End file.
